Curated OER
Deal Me In
Middle schoolers study the components of a deck of cards and conduct an initial experiment in the probability of drawing various types of cards from a deck. They play two rounds of poker to discover the probability of drawing several...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Tic Tac Toe, Get Off My Toes
Why is conflict resolution such an important skill to learn? Pupils explore the topic, playing an adapted Tic-tac-toe game. Two class teams are tasked with finding a win-win solution to a hypothetical conflict before adding their X or O...
August House
The Clever Monkey Rides Again
Use a West African folktale to practice several different skills in your first grade classroom. Learners read The Clever Monkey Rides Again and focus on rhyming words, reading comprehension, measurement, art, movement, and word order.
Florida International University
Counting FishStix
How do we count the fish in the ocean? An engaging lesson models how to estimate fish populations with observational surveys. Class members begin by studying the behavior of fish on the coral reef in the oceans. They then become the fish...
Missouri Department of Elementary
My Conflict Shield
As an exercise in self-awareness and improvement, class members create a Conflict Shield listing 12 skills they believe are the most useful in conflict resolution. They then color the ones they have mastered while leaving uncolored those...
Curated OER
Teaching About Tolerance Through Music
Explore the importance of tolerance with a music-themed lesson plan. Learners listen to the music of Peter, Paul, and Mary, and discern the underlying messages before discussing the painful effects of ridicule, disrespect, and bullying.
Curated OER
Researching African Americans Who Made a Difference
Celebrate Black History Month with this instructional activity, in which middle schoolers create an essay about a famous African-American. Writers conduct research online, take notes to write an essay in proper format, and use ideas,...
Foreign Policy Research Institute
Life in a Totalitarian State
This interesting role-playing activity helps your class understand some of the qualities of totalitarianism by assigning each one as a spy or comrade citizen for a duration of five days. Students should find this highly engaging and...
Curated OER
Reading Comprehension: "Wild"
Develop reading skills in your middle school classroom with this short reading passage. Consider assigning your class a reading strategy to practice as they read the selection. Ten reading comprehension and vocabulary-in-context...
Mathematics Assessment Project
Representing Polynomials
Use this complete and very detailed lesson plan to assess your students' understanding of two important behaviors of polynomials. The first is the relationship between the zeros of a polynomial function and the function's graph, and the...
Curated OER
Insects A-Z!
Alphabet insects! Who has ever heard of such a thing? Get ready because your class is going to research insects that start with a specific letter of the alphabet. In small groups, they'll use the Internet and reference texts to locate...
Curated OER
Tangerine: Concept/Vocabulary Analysis
Designed for teachers who use Tangerine in the classroom, this resource provides background information on the novel, issues raised by the story, and literary devices Bloor employs. A good addition to your curriculum library.
Concord Consortium
Concentrating Charge and Electric Fields
How did Rutherford determine that the nucleus was the center of an atom? Take a look inside the famous Gold Foil Experiment with an interesting interactive. Learners fire a beam of alpha particles at a nucleus containing variable...
Purdue University
Design of a Door Alarm
How does electricity work? Budding scientists explore the concepts of electrical currents and open and closed circuits with class discussion and a hands-on activity using a battery to turn on a light bulb. Learners also make predictions...
iCivics
Responsibility Launcher
So how would pupils solve a town's problems? Using a video game, scholars tell residents of a town how to solve their problems by taking steps such as going back to school, voting, or serving in the military. As they make good choices,...
Curated OER
Surveying New Territory
Students explore recent research linking economic status with student behavior. They design their own studies that investigate how different variables are related to student performance in particular subject areas.
Curated OER
Be Strong / Live Strong Stationary Bike Program
Students participate in a Be Strong Bike Program that rewards them for exhibiting positive behavior. If a student is caught doing something good, they receive a positive behavior slip that has a written description of their positive...
Curated OER
Ethics In The Science Classroom - Fraud In Science
Students are given a fictitious case study to read in preparation for the class. This lesson can also be readily adapted for a role-playing classroom exercise. They discuss the ethical issues of the case.
Curated OER
Having Beary Much Fun with Core Knowledge
Students participate in a teddy bear themed unit to improve their social and reading skills along with other core knowledge subjects. In this social and reading skills lesson, students complete 8 units of activities to learn about social...
Curated OER
Responding to Social Crisis
Students, through discussion, identify ways to cope with and process unexpected community or world crisis, such as terrorism or violent acts within a school or community.
Curated OER
Pellagra Case Study
Students examine a case study documenting the experience of three teens in the 1920's era with a disease (Pellagra) which was prevalent throughout the United States, most particularly in persons with a corn based diet. They create a...
Curated OER
Cardinal Directions
Students draw items on a map in specific places to show their knowledge of cardinal directions. In this simple map skills lesson plan, students draw a cloud, a tree, a house, and a lake to show North, South, East, and West.
Curated OER
Doing Our Jobs
First graders identify traits of good listeners and speakers and role-play these traits in pairs. They brainstorm acceptable and unacceptable behaviors for the classroom and identify what jobs are appropriate for first-graders to perform...
Curated OER
Elmer's Glue Crew
Students practice cleaning up the environment by identifying wasteful behaviors in their school. In this arts and crafts lesson, students create "eco-inspector" binoculars using Elmer's glue, plastic wrap, and construction paper....